Crazy Time

Last week and this week have been extremely busy for me at work. The student's first day of class was on Monday, but the freshman were allowed to move in last week. I've literally been living at work! Hopefully, once this week is over I won't have to be working 8am-9pm anymore!! I've hardly got to spend time with Clint. He's been very understanding. Thankfully, we are getting Labor Day off! Clint has to work on Saturday, but after he gets off, we are headed to Only, Tennessee for a little R&R at a bed and breakfast. This will be our first real weekend getaway as newlyweds. We are looking forward to spending some time riding bikes, reading, and eating some good food! I'm sure I'll be taking pictures :)
I hope everyone has a restful Labor Day!
P.S.I'm sorry to everyone...I'm really not ignoring my phone calls, I've just been working. I'll call everyone back once I get back to a normal pace. I'm a little out of touch with the outside world right now :)

Our future house guest

This weekend, we found out that we are going to get to keep my mom's dog Maggie. Mom is going to Colorado after Thanksgiving and we are going to have Mags for a whole week! If you don't already know, Clint and I are dog crazy. Our lease doesn't allow for us to have dogs (which is probably good for now). But, we already have a few names picked out for our future pooch. We find ourselves stopping at pet stores just to play with the dogs. We will eventually get a dog, but for now, we are looking forward to November when Maggie gets to visit!

Husband Appreciation Day

I get flowers and he gets a mic stand. May not seem exciting, but it produces the same reaction! To my knowledge, I don't think there is an "official" husband appreciation day (most wives would probably say everyday is, haha!). Clint had been talking about wanting a mic stand to use when he records his music. I knew he was probably not going buy one for himself, so I thought it might be a good surprise. He was really excited and so was I because I get to hear all his wonderful masterpieces!

On Belay?

Yesterday afternoon, as part of our staff development training, our office went to the rec center to do some wall/rock climbing. Only one of us gals had done climbing before, so we were all pretty nervous. The wall at our rec center is a 26-foot top-rope climbing wall with a 12-foot boulder. After some lessons on rope tying, belaying techniques, and climbing terminology, we were ready to begin. I was really excited because this had always been something I've wanted to try. I'm not very athletic really, but I love to run and do aerobic activity, so I saw this wall as My Challenge! It felt a lot higher than it looked once I was climbing. With help from Roosevelt, the instructor, I made it to the top!! I didn't realize just how physically challenging it was going to be, but it was such a great feeling to tap the top of the rock. I did a second climb, but miss the top by a few holds because I was just too exhausted. I'm so glad that our office did this together. It was a great team building experience. (Did I mention that we were alone in the rec center b/c it is closed right now? That helped, no gawking students watching you hang on for your life!) I was also told that taller people usually have a harder time climbing. Finally, I've found something that short people have the advantage in!! I really enjoyed it and I cannot wait to get back up there! So, Belay On!

3 month anniversary

Today, Clint and I celebrated our 3 month wedding anniversary. I cannot believe how these months have flown by. We really didn't do much today to celebrate. I actually forgot until Clint said something about it on our way home from church. We had a lazy Sunday afternoon--my favorite! We got up and made breakfast, went to church (a new one we really liked), got groceries, and then came home and watched a movie. He usually gives me a hard time about watching chick flicks. But, he didn't say a word when I popped in one of my favs, "You've Got Mail."
As a working gal, I'm slowly realizing the term, "Living for the weekends." I work all week just to get to the weekend and have it fly by so fast! My work is really picking up. The closer it gets to the return of the students, the more time I'm putting in. I'm excited to have them come back, but I will be so much more relaxed (I hope) around mid-October. APSU's homecoming is in mid-September, which is really early and really close to the Welcome Back events. I never appreciated how much work went into these events when I was a student. Even when I helped plan some of these as a student, I never really saw all the hours put into it. So far, I'm really enjoying it though. Clint is still reporting that he likes his job. This is probably going to be the roughest time for him since his truck has NO AIR! He is literally worn out when he gets home. It's funny, when we both get home, he's physically worn out and I'm mentally worn out!!
But, we are still enjoying Clarksville and finding our favorite spots around town. Saturday night we went down by the Riverwalk. There was somewhat of a breeze and the sun was still setting. It was so nice. I can't wait to see what it's like here in the fall.

Our 1st place

Finally! As requested, here are pictures of our townhouse. Thanks to Mom's help, we were finally able to get everything decorated! (Two rooms are not pictured. Our downstairs 1/2 bath is just too small to get a picture of it. It's located off the kitchen. The guest bedroom/office is Clint's room to decorate...it's still under renovation!)


As you walk in the door to our living room.




Living room view from kitchen.



Kitchen



Walking in from the living room.



Dining area



Upstairs bathroom






Master Bedroom

Mom's Weekend Visit

I was so sad today when Mom had to leave. She got here on Friday afternoon and left this morning. We had such a great time together. Friday, I gave her the tour of Clarksville and APSU. Then, we did some local shopping for our townhouse. Clint came home from work and found us gals cookin up a storm for him. Nothing beats Mom's cooking, not even mine :) Saturday, Clint left early for work and Mom and I headed up to Franklin to finish our home decor shopping. We were so tired from fighting all the tax-free shoppers that we opted not to cook. Instead, Clint and I treated Mom to a meal at Olive Garden. She defiantly deserved it after all the help she gave us with hanging curtains and decorating. It's always so good to see her and I hope it won't be too long before she comes back. Below are pictures from our wait at Olive Garden.

Only your mother can get away with not listening to you!!

This sums up their relationship :)

Clarksville Guests

My dad and grandmother came up last weekend on Saturday to bring us an old chest of drawers that was in our old house in Jackson. They didn't stay too long, just long enough to move in the furniture and eat lunch. But, it was still great to see them. I have always loved that chest of drawers and I'm glad to be reunited with it. My grandmother told me it belonged to her grandparents and was kept in a room in their boarding house. Too cool!
My mom is making the drive up here from Maryville today to stay with Clint and me for the weekend. I've been waiting to get her to help me decorate a little and hang pictures. She has done this each time I've moved and so it only seem fitting for her to come again. I cannot wait to have our first overnight guest in our new townhouse. Look for pictures to come soon of our work on the place!

My favorite things...

Each year Oprah has her favorite things on her show and actually gives them out to the lucky audience members (oh, to be so lucky!). So, I thought I would mention a few of my favorite household things. Most of these are our new wedding gifts and we probably wouldn't have some of them if it were not for the generous gift-givers. We had so many favorite wedding presents, and I might do another "favorite lists" for other things later. But for now, here are my Top 4 must haves:
*Disclaimer: Clint was not consulted in the construction of this list :)

4) Eureka Boss SmartVac- Was rated a best buy in Consumer Reports and I know why!! This thing pretty much "drives" itself. I've had a hand-me-down vacuum cleaner for 7 years. This makes cleaning fun (for now anyway)!

3) George Foreman's Grilleration- Wow, what a long way these have come. No more scrapping to clean the plates. Just remove the plates and throw them in the dishwasher. Cooks ANYTHING in less than 10 minutes. Griller's dream!



2)Henckel knife block-My nanaw told me about these a few years back. She has only 2 of these knives because they are rather expensive. We were fortunate to get the whole block! You can really tell a difference between good knives.



1) You knew this had to be my #1. I fought to keep this thing on our registry and Clint's very gracious grandparents gave us the KitchenAid mixer. (They also gave us the Grilleration!) I assumed I probably wouldn't get this but I wanted to at least add it to our registry. (What the heck, right?) Clint really was apprehensive at first b/c he thought it was a waste of money. Well, after I made some delicious cupcakes with it last week, I believe he is finally coming to terms :) What a bakers dream! This is by far the best kitchen assistant ever! Cannot wait to try all the new things with this bad boy! If you ever get a splurge, I would consider a KitchenAid. (That is, if you are not already in love with your own.)

Tuesday Flowers

On Tuesday, Clint sent me flowers at work! It wasn't an anniversary, and no, he wasn't in the dog house (as my co-workers asked). The card just said "Happy Tuesday." I love having the husband that makes the girls at work jealous :) Everyone keeps telling me this will end soon since we are married. In the three months we have been married, he has given me 3 bouquets of flowers. I'm not too worried about it ending, I'm just enjoying it right now. I know everyone thinks this, but I truly do have the best husband ever!

Girlfriend's Day

Today is National Girlfriend's Day. Even though, all of my closest friends are miles away, I still talk to each one on a regualar basis. I'm truly blessed to have such supportive and thoughtful friends. It really is hard being away from each of you. Know that I'm so thankful for your friendship!

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." ~Philippians 1:3